[scrapnel]

im just wondering if anyone has had any luck finding someone in texas at all. mainly from the perspective of an adoptee, but a perspective of a birthparent or other would be fine too.

i havent been able to start searching in earnest yet because im still not 18 (3 months), but ive definitely been looking in all legal ways i can for about the last 3 or 4 years (which isnt much). but as im getting ready to "be legal" and be able to search, im very discouraged about having been born in texas. it just seems like our state is about 50 times more closed off than other states.

has anyone been able to actually get any of their birth information from the courts or whatnot? i know we have "sealed adoption records," but im not entirely clear on what all that entails. i already have what i believe to be my non-identifying info (it has all the information on my parents like health, age, existence of other kids, religion, hobbies, stuff like that) as well as my charts from the hospital (with a piece of tape over the last name before it was xeroxed) cuz i guess my parents got all those things when they adopted me (infant). but those things really arent going to help me find my family. plus, the agency everything was done through (christian child help fund) no longer exists, and the hospital i was born in (one of the jefferson davis hospitals, unsure which) was either torn down or burned down.

when an adoption is done through an agency, do foster parents ever have information about the birth parents? i wouldnt think so, but i know my (adoptive) mom does still keep in touch with my foster parents, even though ive never talked to them.

anyway, im basically just wondering if there is any hope at all in this stupid state we were cursed to have been born in....

replies greatly appreciated

[lotusnight]

I gave up a son to Edna Gladney in 96.in Dallas. The only info I was given about the adoptive parents were their first names. They flew here to met me, and when I asked them their last name in person, they told me they would rather not say. And this was an open adoption. They lived in England at the time. I recieved one picture of him the first year, and havent seen anything else. They dont have to deal with the bio-mom or dad if they dont want to. I just have to wait. Best of luck to you........-Liz

[Nok]

I recently found mine. I had to go to the district court in the county where the adoption took place and petition the judge to grant me access to my records. I didn't have to use an attorney for the petition, I just sat down and wrote a letter including my personal info, all the reasons I should be granted access and basically pleading to the judge and signed my name to it. A few days later the district clerk called to let me know I had been granted access and she was able to open my folder. Unfortunately, mine had all been sent to Austin and they hadn't kept copies by mistake. I then had to hire an attorney to type up a court order signed by the district judge and send it to Austin. I had a much better response dealing with the court than I did with Austin. The people at Vital Statistics weren't very helpful at all and kept bouncing me around. Even after I sent them the court order, they only sent me my original birth certificate. I was still able to locate my family with the little info that was on there but I was expecting alot more info.
Hope this helps any. Feel free to email if there's anything I can help with. dburrows305@cox.net

BTW, I ended up finding my real parents and a whole new, fairly large family. We've since reunited and it's been better than I could have ever imagined.

[june13th]

Yes! Yes! Yes! Do not give up! I found my nephew listed on web site "txcare.org". It has been over 3
years now and the whole thing went down beautifully.
He had been looking and I had been looking. We had a little trouble getting together because he had changed his e address after he had posted his information. I called my sister and gave her his name and possible state. She and her husband contacted him and then we all got together later that year at a family reunion. All went very well. We have a very good relationship with him. His A-parents supported him but did not want to get involved. He is going to be 40 his next birthday, so his A-parents have not been especially involved in a long time, since he is married and lives in another state. They do visit and call each other often and the relationship is very good.

Just keep on trying.

Good luck.................a Texas birthfamily member.